Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1887-06-11
GRADUATING GRAFTON.

tU l
GRADUATING GRAFTON.
Delivered june Sth, b~ysssidwerd Hin
man Pound, the First Graduate from
Yaukt0n College, at the C0mmenc-
ment Exercises.
IS THE CONSTITUTION FINAL?
The question implies its negative. My
purpose 10 to reiterate and emphasize
the fact that the constitution under
which NE are governed has no claims to
fnallty.
When q ship enters q harbor, at frat
q light may stand almost before it, then
it swings gently to one side and after
ward drops slowly astern. There can
be no fixed relation between q point in
MOTION and o point at rest, unless that
motion be in o CIRCLE. The American
nation is in motion, this motion is sure-
~ rapid, it is forward. But is the con.
stitution like q point at rest? 1t is q
written constitution and for that
reason fixed. Had it been made
readily ameDdable and 20 been
given broad wings with which to follow
the onward sweep OF progress, this
would still be true, But il is q very
difficult matter to amend the conssitu.
ton. The sixteen amendments betoken
some progress. There 10 q further evil
dence.of progresain the b~oardening in
depreciation of its sections. But Gan.
there be any doubt that the constitution
which is to-day our fundamental law is
substantially the same as that which the
trainers composed at Philadelphia In the
GUNNER Of 1887? Then it is folly to as
sumo that q constitution which is com
paratively fixed can continue to stand in
the same relation to O people, the
most progressive on EARTH
The constitution ought in its forma-
ton to be governed by the conditions Of
the people for which it is designed. To
assume that this great paper is the very
best for present conditions or those in
the immediate future is to assume that
the founders OF our government measured
with true prophetic ken the progress to
be made during this century and saw yet
further into the curtained future, No
one can deny that the constitution YVES
written with q view to q future govern
ment, was written by men with large
faith in Its destiny. The constitution
itself and the gathered record of the CON
vention bear ample proof of this. But
their great faith contd never have given
them the necessary facts? When the
fathers came to Philadelphia, they
rolled up to the tavern door
amid rumble and a%latter, and the toot-
ling of horns. Do you p that
they eve anticipated .i1aa descendants
of theirs would traverse the ninety
miles from New York to PHILADELPHIA
in two hours? What place did
the telephone. the teles iaph. the rail-
road hold in their fntuse empire? Gould
they have provided for the effect upon
society Of these mighty factors? Imagine
them with their knowledge trying to in
terpret the Interstate commerce law.
But could the long arm and bony fn-
ger OF statistics have reached out and
revealed this empire? That is impossi.
BILE. No one possessed the necessary
data. West OF the Allegheny mountains
there were trees and Indiana. The rich
aoii of the great central plain was as
little appreciated as the copper OF Michi-
gan and Wisconsin, the gold fields OF
California, or the iron and coal OF PEN
%sylvania. But with the best of data the
man Of statistics can / us nothing
that approxinases to the reality. Arith.
mstic makes q framework Of wire. poetic
fancy weaves for it garments, but to.
gether they make not man, but an efigy.
When chemistry makes q man and gives
him On immortal soul then may we come
to believe Chat thoss patriots as they sal
in convention assembled forssaw the
mighty stream Of life that should one
day throb through q thousand arteries,
knew of the energy that should thrill
through ten Thousand nerves OF steel,
and realized and grasped the conditions
essential to the government OF the
mightest nation the world has ever seen
They could not forsee because they were
men. There is o time. lock on tomorrow
and finite humanity can only wait until
tomorrow. becomes to-day.
But does any one fancy that they who
wrote that great document were more
than men? Such is not the record they
left. II it were worth the while to lool
for them we might find envy, strife, pas.
sion. They were zen OF like PASSION
With us; great men, noble men, grand
men, but essentially and finally men.
Might not this whole question be
summed up in this? Men made the
conatitntlon. But men make nothing
final. Such is the unwilling testimony
of his work on earth. Men have songh,
the most enduring materials and have
built palaces, temples and monuments
Yet this labor has gained not immortal
ity, but q little longer lease OF life
Decay follows hard upon construction
and only constant construction can pre-
vent the ultimate triumph Of the princi-
pie OF decay. The shattered shafts ans
broken columns that Lie by she banh
os The yellow Nile, by the shores
OF the Aegean, or close by Father Tiber
are but the smiles of eternity at til,
folly of time. However the document
under discussion belongs not amone
those things which men build witt
stone and mortar, but rather is il Liz,
those institutions and customs Of. me1
which live with them. So far as q con.
%stitution is Of any value FOR the purpose
for which it WAS made it must continu,
to be o living organism and must main
tain q vital connection with q living PEG
pie. To claim fnality for any work o
man is but to say that the finite cal
create the finite.
But does any one assert that the con-
J tstitution ID in o q statement o.
truth and 80 cannot die, for truth IL
eternal. There may be and often is al
important difference between truth anC
q statement of truth; but the. conatitu-
ton is not a statement OF truth. Tt is or
attempt to apply certain political prin-
ciples to the government OF a nation. Pc
litioal principles are forever the same
mans relation to them changes. VIZ
speak Of the stars as fixed, of the sun,l
being at rest, yet the fixed stars NOV
and the great center OF the solar system:
with all his oiscling attendants is sweep